Risk factor management: the cardiologist's perspective

Risk factors are associated with disease and are not necessarily causative; as they are additive they should not be judged in isolation. Thus, 'mild blood pressure' does not imply a 'mild' risk in a cigarette-smoking, hypertensive diabetic. Cardiologists are usually fortunate, in that they see patients when there is already evidence of disease (ie, when secondary prevention is the issue, which is much less contentious than primary prevention). In the 'whizz-bang' specialty of cardiology, a balloon can remove in a matter of seconds what a lipidologist has toiled over for years. Attention to detail may not come easily in a stressful world: it is the detail of prevention that is likely to slow the progression of disease and induce regression rather than angioplasty or bypass surgery. In the presence of coronary artery disease, the essence of management is the team approach, the patient being the most important member of the team. Furthermore, the factors that need the most concentrated effort include cigarette smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. As risk factors are additive, treatment of one should not make another one worse. Some drugs for hypertension can exacerbate hyperlipidaemia or impair glucose tolerance (eg thiazides), while ACE inhibitors can beneficially decrease insulin resistance in diabetes. Therapy must be tailored to the individual, but the overall prognostic benefits of drugs that might have slightly adverse metabolic profiles (such as beta-blockers) must not be ignored. Science is often a loser when faced with the power of marketing. When one risk factor (eg hypertension) is present, it is important to be vigorous in treating other factors (eg hyperlipidaemia) with general advice and support, as well as with specific drug therapy if indicated. There are two individuals that tend to lack education in risk factors--the patient and the cardiologist. The patient is a victim of poor investment in prevention, while the cardiologist is put off by a perceived lack of balance from the medical protagonists.